Morning News Round-Up -- 5.19.10: a very peloton Wednesday to you all...

The good news is that Patrick Marleau had two goals last night for the Sharks... the bad news is that the Chicago Blackhawks had 4... Deja vu?

Speaking of deja vu... Commie Gate turned into LA Gate yesterday... Remember the mailers that were sent out against San Jose City Council candidate Magdalena Carrasco last week calling her a communist. According to the latest fake mailer, she is also part of an evil plot to bring LA to SJ. Watch Dog has to wonder, the folks that are lined up against Carrasco, which is it? Is she a communist or an LA-o-phile? Either way, the story continues... and the bigger question remains, who is going to get caught for doing this. Watch Dog can assure you: We didn't work for candidate George Shirakawa's campaign in 2008 and our office has nothing to do with this mailer against Carrasco...

And by the way, Mr./Ms. Author of this stupid mail piece, we have traffic, gangs, and smog already in San Jose...

Perhaps the Sharks management doesn't have their eye on the ball... because they are still fighting San Jose's plans to bring Major League Baseball across the street from the arena... and it is an uphill battle because the Planning Commission is slated to approve the environmental impact report on the stadium tonight. Perhaps the Sharks management have other things to worry about? Like stopping playoff history (the curse) in its tracks...

As if the San Jose City Council wasn't rolling over enough to keep the San Jose card rooms in San Jose (Measure K = More tables)... they are going the extra mile. And it is a big extra mile. Garden City is moving right next to 101 to create the San Jose Strip near the airport, including a 600 room hotel... with full support from the City Council.

The Merc Editorial Board gives some props to the San Jose unions who put forward a plan to help with the budget... it isn't enough, but it is a good start -- according to the folks on Ridder Park Drive...

And the budget challenges in Los Gatos seem to be managable, or perhaps they have a more fiscally prudent, cooperative City Council. Either way, their budget plan moved forward yesterday... Watch Dog loves this, the libraries take a hit in the plan, they will still be open 7 days, but only 50 hours, not 54. Perhaps San Jose could run a shuttle from their closed libraries to Los Gatos' open ones...

Morning News Round-Up -- 2.8.10: When the Saints...

If you didn't check Watch Dog after you read the Morning News Round-Up on Friday, you missed late-breaking stuff about Mayor Ron Dellums being "in the know" about when Major League Baseball would hear back from the Task Force looking into the Oakland A's Bay Area stadium options... We posted it after we read the East Bay Express, then San Jose Inside did.

This is interesting, San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed and City Manager Deb Figone are on a different page when it comes to changing the make up of the pension boards in the City of San Jose. It is interesting because Reed and Figone are often on the same page when it comes to such things... Figone wants all the folks on the board to be independent, financial experts appointed by the City Council -- Reed has cut a deal that isn't as strong, but will still get more experts, but fewer Council appointments, on the pension boards. Pension board/ taxpayer watch dogs seem displeased...

Perhaps a winning lotto ticket could help make up some of San Jose's pension losses... a $20 million ticket was sold at 7-11 on Bascom Avenue. Check your numbers: 19, 29, 36, 41, 20...

Dolores Carr in the news... again. This time, the judge that she has instructed her prosecutors to boycott has a key case in front of her right now and isn't letting the case go. Sorry District Attorney Carr...

Also in the news is the SJPD, well, one detective in particular. This will affect Dolores Carr's office too. A detective in the Sexual Assaults Investigations Unit may face charges for allegedly filing false police reports that led to some cases being dismissed, although is seems that no one was falsely charged because the shoddy police work. Of course, after the fact of this coming to light, Police Chief Rob Davis is looking into auditing detectives more closely... sound familiar?

Speaking of internal government controversies, here's another one: Silicon Valley Power, the utility that provides electricity to Santa Clara, was forced by Cal-OSHA to shut down one of the City's three power plants. The story also highlights some other internal issues going on at Silicon Valley Power... No word yet if Mission City Lantern can trace this closure back to the anti-49ers crowd, but we'll wait and see.

In an unrelated story, 5 folks died at a Connecticut power plant after a big explosion.

When we think about the 49ers stadium plans in Santa Clara, we've generally only been talking about Santa Clara. But the Sunnyvale City Council wanted some 49er love as well -- and Lisa Lang of the 49ers gave them some. Perhaps San Jose is interested in the economic/ traffic impact of the 49er's stadium?

Scott Herhold at the Merc is doing some reporting this week, apparently. He fills us in on a story developing in the County Building where Assessor Larry Stone is actively trying to stop former Sunnyvale Councilmember John Howe's appointment to an Assessment Appeals Board at the County. Supervisor George Shirakawa has nominated John Howe and Larry Stone thinks that Howe is not only unqualified, but wrote a nasty letter to tell everyone about it. Herhold got wind of the story and wrote about is as a reporter, not a columnist, this weekend...

Herhold also wrote a column this weekend, continuing a push for openness from the San Jose Police Department, specifically about 911 tapes. Herhold notes that the entire Toyota accelerator recall stems, in large part, from a released 911 tape. Oh, and the Police Chief Rob Davis was out of town when Herhold called for a quote. Perhaps he is looking for a place to retire too, because Herhold also noted that Davis "...is widely believed to be a short-timer..."

Internal Affairs in the Merc let Sheriff Laurie Smith know why she should be careful whom she writes letters of recommendation for... her opponent in her re-election bid is using a Smith-written recommendation as a campaign promotional piece. Oops.

Morning News Round-Up -- 8.28.09: The Detroit of the Bay Area?

It’s official, Toyota walks away from Fremont after 25 years. That is a heck of a year for Fremont, losing a professional baseball team AND a massive automobile manufacturing plant. We'd call them the Detroit of the Bay Area, but Detroit has a baseball team. Perhaps casinos would be a nice addition...

Things took a turn towards ugly at meetings for San Jose’s pension systems this week. Current and future retiree’s attacked the Canadian consultant’s proposal to create an independent board while non-governmental folks attacked worker pensions. “Rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic...” was the accusation of tech retiree Jerry Mungai. Oddly, the pissing match at the actual meetings sounded a lot nastier than the joint post from the Police Officers and Firefighter union heads this week on Protect San Jose where Bobby Lopez and Randy Sekany offered this: "We’re always open to listening and talking about ways to improve things."

We hope the anti-High Speed Rail/ NIMBY celebrants are enjoying their party. One downside the court's ruling this week questioning the EIR of High-Speed Rail, which the NIMBY's love, is that Caltrain electrification could be delayed or defuned... buzz kill, man.

The Civil Grand Jury took a swipe at San Jose in June for cost increases at the Los Lagos Golf Course. San Jose responded this week saying an unexpected increase in construction costs was the problem.

Wanna catch up with the Merc’s Sal Pizarro? Sounds like he’ll be at the grand (re)opening of San Jose’s 101 year old Carnegie Library following the $9 million overhaul.

Speaking of openings... the Merc’s Scott Herhold munched on shrimp and sipped champagne while San Jose Councilmember Sam Liccardo channeled Will Rogers at the opening of San Jose’s newest downtown attraction: a grocery store in a downtown high-rise condo building.

Don’t be dumping your garbage in San Jose’s Hoffman Via Monte neighborhood. The neighbors voted to keep their no-warning-big-fine penalty in place for the idiots tossing beds on sidewalks.

U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack stopped by San Jose to see those federal stimulus dollars start trickling in this week for the Lower Silver Creek flood control project.

It’s Barry Swenson Friday… First up, pissed off Cupertinites found the ad-hoc parking lot for as many as 50 construction vehicles offensive... A few calls to Cupertino City officials later, Swenson was in hot water. Next, the Watch Dog formula of the day:

• Prime Development Land + High Housing Prices = Goodbye Palo Alto Bowl

Was Mountain View pissed they weren’t called kid friendly and San Jose was? Maybe. This week the City bulldozed a 20 year old make-shift BMX park called “Creek Trails” by local dirt bikers. City Attorney Michael Martello (the biggest downer of them all) ‘fessed up it was his idea saying it was “…one of the times where you hate to be an adult...” but it was a lawsuit that caused San Jose’s $8 million got the bull-dozers rolling.

Palo Alto Mayor Peter Drekmeier will host a forum organized by the faith community and Penny Barrett to help grown-ups figure out how to help fix the teen suicide problem. The Merc’s Editorial Board adds their voice supporting the County’s call for more work.

Mountain View Councilmembers agree with the Santa Clara Valley Water District and McKelvey Park is headed for a flood protection/ baseball field of dreams. Councilmember Laura Macias stayed out of the conversation as colleagues called it a win-win.